Abstract

A planar microlens beam guide that is based on the lateral focusing property of gradient-index planar microlenses is realized for a wavelength-division multiplexer (WDM) component without precision alignment. By stacking two planar microlenses, we obtain a nearly circular focused spot of ~ 5-μm diameter by lateral focusing, which is comparable with that of a single-mode fibers. A fabricated WDM component that consists of four stacked lenses and microfilters inserted into the slits made in a substrate is demonstrated. The port-to-port coupling loss is 3–5 dB, and an extinction ratio of larger than 20 dB for multiplexed-demultiplexed wavelengths of 780 and 633 nm, respectively, is achieved.

© 1994 Optical Society of America

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